From Merit Beauty to Trinny London, top beauty companies are shifting their focus to more seasoned shoppers
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Sarah Creal is a beauty industry titan. For years, she worked behind the scenes, developing products for the likes of Prada, Bobbi Brown, and, more recently, Victoria Beckham. But once she hit 50, she noticed something was awry: her makeup wasn’t performing on her now-more-mature skin.
“Suddenly I hit 50 and started to notice that even the products I created weren’t performing like they once did: concealer was creasing, lipstick was bleeding, eyeliner was smudging,” she says. “When I thought about it, I couldn’t think of a single cool, inspiring luxury brand specifically designed for women like me.”
It sounds absurd to suggest that a demographic of women this large (not to mention, with such hefty spending power) could have been so widely forgotten, but ask yourself: can you name a brand that ticks all those boxes? When Creal couldn’t, she did something beauty lovers everywhere are raving about: she created her own.
Creal isn’t alone in her mission to develop makeup for those in their 40s, 50s, and 60s: this year, brands both established and new are shifting their focus to this long-forgotten section of the market. Trinny Woodall’s coveted beauty brand Trinny London is another example: “Our core demographic is women aged 40 plus who have felt ignored in the world of beauty,” the founder says. “We have customers in their 20s and customers in their 80s, but the woman who comes to Trinny London is usually someone navigating a change in her life—whether that’s turning 40, going through perimenopause, or just wanting a routine that actually works for her skin right now."
Of course, it’s not quite as simple as placing mature women in front of the lens: the formulas must hit the mark too. “The performance bar is much, much harder to hit for skin that is 40-plus,” confirms Creal. “You can imagine that younger skin is like a bouncy rubber mat: it's smooth, uniform, and almost anything looks decent on it. When you're formulating for somebody my age, the skin is more like tissue paper, so I have to be very specific in the way that I create products at the raw material level.”
Ahead, keep reading for more on the best makeup brands for mature skin to shop now, including Sarah Creal Beauty , Trinny London , and other beloved favorites.
Sarah Creal Beauty masterfully combines weighty, luxurious packaging with beautiful marketing and, crucially, products that really work on older skin. “My customer knows a thing or two; she’s discerning, and she has been disappointed over and over. I wanted to really curate the beauty landscape—which is a disaster—for women our age, and make sure they know that I have their back,” adds Creal.
If anyone can crack the code and deliver makeup that shines on mature skin, it's Sarah Creal: a seasoned product developer who fits her own demographic. But it's how the founder has designed her truly exciting brand: these weighty, satisfyingly luxe products are anything but utilitarian, making for a wholly aspirational proposition.
Sarah Creal’s Just Like Paradise sculpting bronzer is one of those products that’ll make everything that preceded it feel starkly outdated. It comes in the form of a solid balm, which melts when it meets a sturdy stipple brush (synthetic hairs work best) or,…